L'aura del Campo

Room for two Jayhawks?

L'aura del campo

EARLY WINTER: 17 Masa'il (28 December) 55º and cloudy. 44º in Jeannette, Pennsylvania.

'é a lua, é a lua, na quintana dos mortos'
♣ Federico García Lorca ♣

What to say? On Wednesday, I tossed and turned and slept all morning because I was so tired from tossing and turning all night.

I went to the Oread Bookstore and read some of Basho's haibun. I always feel inspired in that place. It has windows that look out towards the Hill.

Room enough for two Jayhawks?

Now who cares about how many Jayhawks there are? Seems folks in Kansas do ... even though the Jeannette Jayhawks date back as far as Kansas University's does.

Since I'm a graduate of K.U. and my mother grew up in Jeannette, I thought I'd check into it a bit.

Articles about Jeannette, PA Jayhawks appearing in the Lawrence Kansas paper:

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/dec/23/pa_high_school_has_jayhawk_its_own/

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2001/apr/06/origin_of_jayhawk/

Western Pennsylvania website for Jayhawks (shows Jeannette's mascot):

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/highschool/info/school.php...

The problem in this day and age is copyright protection. Afterall, K.U. is nationally known and has a "reputation" to defend. Well ... maybe in basketball. Jeannette's football team almost won the state title this year (lost 28-29) and has one of the premiere high school players in the nation. Maybe K.U. should recruit him!

Will K.U. bully Jeannette? Afterall, they have only called themselves the Jayhawks since the 1930s and used the mascot since 1946 or so ...

My opinion? Kansas University is about 50 years too late to bitch about a small city (11,000) in Pennsylvania using a symbol that they have used for two generations. Not forgetting to mention that they have better football teams (and fans).

Note: one shouldn't forget about the Jayhawks of Jamestown Community College in New York either. I also have family there!

Untitled musings:

Those who are desperate and poor
best not beg at the old king's door.
Better to huddle with those most generous,
the hungry, broken and truly penniless. [163.517a]

Trudging up the hill,
glancing down at broken bricks,
stopping at street corners,

the bell tower rises at the top,
the jet trails cut the sky. [163.517b]

I think of you
when the cold crisp sunlight
caresses my cheeks to dry my eyes.

At night,
who will dam the flood? [163.517c]

In a place where no one has endured pain
my tears shed the sound of one hand clapping. [163.519a]

one white feather
floating through the sunshine
there has been no snow. [163.519b]

You ask,
"When you leave,
will you come back?"

The forsythia buds answer for me,
"If Spring comes." [163.519c]

Had a nice talk with Andrew from Overland Park. He will be spending 6 months in Costa Rica this year, leaving next month. I told him how difficult and wonderful my year there was, how to observe how people interact and carry themselves, how they use hand gestures, whether they stand close, to listen to the language-as-spoken (not just what is learned in books). Of course I had to mention all the wonderful food! Especially the fruit drinks (refrescos).

Wrote quite a few more one and two line snippets while reading more of Basho's haiku at Borders. I love bookstores! Can't afford to buy books, so libraries and bookstores R my friends.

Since this ended up in the most recent Poetry letter here I am getting more reviews (almost forgot I wrote it!): "Willowsong"  It is a terzanelle (except line 16 is part of 5th stanza not 6th. I liked it better that way.).

And my tsunami poem from 2 years ago if you missed it: "Speak soft my name" 

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 Kare Enga